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New England Patriots Training Camp Preview: Offensive Tackle

July 18th, 2013 at 11:15 AM By Andrew Goldberg

On Wednesday, Patriots101.com continued its training camp preview and looked at the tight end position for the New England Patriots. As training camp is only nine days away, Patriots101.com now looks at the offensive line, specifically, the offensive tackle position.

The New England Patriots have two experienced and talented players bookending the offensive line. Left tackle Nate Solder and right tackle Sebastian Vollmer ranked as two of the best offensive tackles in the game according to football outsiders.

As football outsiders shows, Solder ranked seventh in the league when the New England Patriots rushed to his side, averaging 4.69 yards per rush. Meanwhile, the New England Patriots gained 4.56 yards per rush, good for sixth in the league. Did we forget to mention that both players are under the age of 30? Solder is 25 and Vollmer is 29.

Both players come back to protect Tom Brady and lead the running game once again. Also competing for a roster spot on the team are Will Svitek, Kevin Haslem, Elvis Fisher, Marcus Cannon, Markus Zusevics and R.J. Mattes.

Svitek and Haslem are both experienced with Svitek having started ten games for the Atlanta Falcons in 2011. He also appeared in 13 or more games from 2007-2011. Haslem started three games for the San Diego Chargers last year and appeared in two others. Cannon also appeared in 23 games for the Patriots in the last two years. All three have experience while Zusevics was on the roster last season but saw no action on the field.

Mattes and Fisher are both undrafted rookie free agents and will be long shots to make the roster as players with more experience are ahead of them.

Look for the Patriots to have no problems at the offensive tackle position heading into and leaving training camp unless an unforeseen injury occurs.